The West Indian cricket team, also known colloquially as the West
Indies or the Windies, is a multi-national cricket team representing a
sporting confederation of 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean
countries, British dependencies and non-British dependencies.

From the mid 1970s to the early 1990s, the West Indies team was one of
the strongest in the world in both Test and One Day International
cricket. A number of cricketers considered among the best in the world
have hailed from the West Indies; Sir Garfield Sobers, Lance Gibbs,
Gordon Greenidge, George Headley, Clive Lloyd, Malcolm Marshall, Andy
Roberts and Everton Weekes have all been inducted into the ICC Hall of
Fame, while world-record holders Brian Lara and Sir Viv Richards were
both West Indies Test players.

The history of the West Indies cricket team began in the 1890s, when
the first representative sides were selected to play visiting English
sides. The WICB joined the sport's international ruling body, the
Imperial Cricket Conference, in 1926, and played their first official
international match, granted Test status, in 1928 thus becoming the
fourth Test nation.

Although blessed with some great players in their early days as a Test
nation, and beating England for the first time at Lord's on 29 June
1950, their successes remained sporadic until the 1960s when the side
changed from a white-dominated to a black-dominated side. By the 1970s,
the West Indies had a side recognised as unofficial world champions, a
reputation they retained throughout the 1980s. During these glory
years, the Windies were noted for their four-man fast bowling attack,
backed up by some of the best batsmen in the world.

The 1980s saw them set a then-record streak of 11 consecutive Test
victories in 1984 and inflict two 5–0 "blackwashes" against the old
enemy of England. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, however, West Indian
cricket declined, largely due to the failure of the West Indian Cricket
Board to move the game from an amateur pastime to a professional sport
coupled with the general economic decline in West Indian countries, and
the team today is struggling to regain its past glory. The West Indies
are currently ranked 8th out of the 10 Test playing nations, and 7th in
the One Day International rankings, which likewise only cover the 10
Test playing nations.

In their early days in the 1930s, the side represented the British
colonies of the West Indies Federation plus British Guiana.

National teams also exist for the various different islands, which, as
they are all separate countries, very much keep their local identities
and support their local favourites. These national teams take part in
the West Indian first-class competition, the Carib Beer Cup (earlier
known as the Busta Cup, Shell Shield and various other names). It is
also common for other international teams to play the island teams for
warm-up games before they take on the combined West Indies team.

When playing one-day cricket, the Windies wear a maroon shirt, with
grey around the sides. The shirt also sports the logo of the West
Indian Cricket Board and the name of their sponsors, at present,
Digicel. The one-day cap is maroon with the WICB logo on the left of
the front, with two yellow stripes separated by a green stripe running
vertically on the right of the front.

When playing first-class cricket, in addition to their cricket flannels
West Indian fielders sometimes wear a maroon sunhat with a wide brim.
The WICB logo is on the middle of the front of the hat. Helmets are
coloured similarly.

During World Series Cricket, coloured uniforms were adopted. The
initial West Indies uniform was pink and was later changed to maroon to
match their Test match caps. Grey was also added as a secondary colour.
In some of their uniforms grey has been dominant over the traditional
maroon.